BOSTON, March 16 (UPI) -- Researchers have uncovered a groundbreaking characteristic of asthma patients -- 63 percent more "T cells" than healthy lungs.
The cells, also referred to as "natural killer T cells," are normal parts of the immune system, helping to fight infection and strengthen the immune system.
But too many of them can inflame tissue and leave it susceptible to irritation by lipids -- body fat and fat found in plants and food, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Dr. Dale Umetsu, lead researcher and immunologist at Children's Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School, said this gives asthma researchers another avenue to understand the illness.
Previous thought had focused solely on dust and pollen as triggers.
The study, conducted by researchers at Stanford University, Karolinska Institution in Stockholm and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in San Diego as well, is published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
It found killer T cells made up 63 percent of asthma patients' cell count, compared to less than one percent for healthy patients or suffers of other lung illnesses.
Researchers say now they need to find out if the killer T cells cause the asthma or are a result of it.
